How we verify results (so a badge actually means something).
Anyone can claim a 40% lift. Here, a claim without proof gets flagged — and a claim with proof gets a badge you can trust. This is exactly how that works, start to finish. No black boxes.
Receipts over rhetoric · No pay-to-win · Reviewed in the open
Why verification exists at all
Growth marketing has a trust problem, and everyone in it knows why. The term "growth hacking" got hijacked by people selling secrets, screenshots, and overnight miracles. Real operators got lumped in with grifters. Founders got burned. Serious work got buried under louder noise.
We started with one rule:
If you can't back it with numbers, it doesn't rank.
Verification is how we enforce that rule. It's the difference between a platform where the loudest person wins and one where the work wins. It protects two people at once:
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The operator with real results — so their receipts aren't drowned out by someone with a bigger following and no proof.
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The founder or team relying on those results — so when they steal a playbook or hire a marketer, they're acting on evidence, not a headline.
Verification isn't a feature. It's the whole point.
The verification standard: what "Verified" means here
A "Verified" badge on Growth-Hackers.com is not a like, a vibe, or a paid placement. It means a specific bar has been cleared:
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There's a real result. A concrete metric moved — CAC down, conversion up, signups grew, payback shortened — stated as a number, not an adjective.
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There's evidence behind it. The person who ran it submitted proof we can actually check (see "What counts as evidence" below).
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It survived scrutiny. The community weighed in, and our review process checked the evidence against the claim.
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It's attributed to a real operator. Every verified result links to a named profile that stands behind it publicly.
If any of those are missing, it doesn't get the badge. Simple as that.
How a hack gets verified
Every hack submitted to the Growth Hacks Feed moves through the same four stages. Nobody skips the line — not paying members, not founding members, not us.
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Stage 1 — Evidence submission
When you submit a hack, you don't just write a story. You attach the receipts: the metric that moved, the before-and-after numbers, the timeframe, the channel or tactic, and supporting evidence — a dashboard screenshot, an analytics export, a redacted panel, or a private verification with our team. The more checkable the evidence, the higher the badge you can earn.
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Stage 2 — Community signal
Your hack goes live and the community does what it does best: reads it critically, upvotes what's useful, and calls out what smells off. Practitioners are the toughest reviewers there are — a claim that doesn't add up gets questioned fast. Community votes surface signal; they do not, on their own, grant a "Verified" badge. Votes and verification are two different things (more on that in the badge states).
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Stage 3 — Review
Evidence is checked against the claim. As of 2026 this is a combination of structured evidence rules and human review by our team, with community flags feeding in. We check that the numbers are internally consistent, that the evidence actually supports the stated result, and that the tactic is described honestly enough to be repeatable. If something's unclear, we ask the author before we decide — we don't silently reject.
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Stage 4 — The badge (and how it can be lost)
If the evidence clears the bar, the hack earns a Verified badge, its author gets reputation credit, and it becomes eligible to rise on results-ranked leaderboards. A badge isn't permanent tenure: if new evidence contradicts a claim, or a community challenge holds up on review, a badge can be downgraded or pulled. Trust is earned continuously, not once.
The three badge states
Every hack on the platform carries one of three clearly labeled states. Nothing is hidden or ambiguous — you always know exactly what you're looking at.
Evidence checked & cleared
Evidence submitted, checked, and cleared. The number moved and the proof holds up. This is the badge that earns leaderboard rank and Playbook Vault inclusion. When a buyer acts on a Verified hack, they're acting on checked evidence.
Useful — but not proven
The community found it useful and upvoted it, but it either hasn't completed evidence review yet or the author chose not to submit full proof. Useful signal — not the same as verified. Labeled honestly so no one confuses popularity with proof.
No proof yet — labeled plainly
A claim with no supporting evidence, or one the community or our review has flagged as questionable. We don't delete honest attempts, but we don't dress them up either. Unverified stays unverified until proof arrives. Flagged content is clearly marked so it can't masquerade as proven.
Showing an "Unverified / Flagged" state is what makes "Verified" believable. A platform that only ever shows green checks is lying.
What counts as evidence
We're pragmatic about proof. Growth work is messy and confidential — we get it. Evidence exists on a spectrum, and stronger evidence earns a more confident badge. Here's roughly how we weigh it:
- ✓ Analytics or dashboard exports (Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, ad platforms, revenue tools)
- ✓ Screen recordings or dated screenshots showing the metric before and after
- ✓ Private verification: you show us the raw data under NDA, we badge it publicly without exposing your numbers
- ✓ Redacted dashboards (real shape, hidden absolute figures)
- ✓ Third-party confirmation (a client, employer, or teammate co-signs the result)
- ✓ Public evidence (a launch that's independently visible, a live experiment anyone can inspect)
helps, not sufficient alone
- • A clear, specific, repeatable write-up of the tactic
- • Community corroboration from people who ran something similar
- ✕ "Trust me." Vague adjectives.
- ✕ Round numbers with no source. Vanity metrics with no business tie.
- ✕ Results you can't or won't describe well enough to be repeated.
The bar isn't "expose your company's private data to the internet." The bar is "give us enough to check that the claim is real."
"But my numbers are confidential"
This is the most common concern we hear from serious operators — and it's a fair one. Great results often sit under NDAs. We built verification so you never have to choose between protecting your client's data and getting credit for your work.
You have three options, all of which can earn a Verified badge:
Share ranges, not absolutes.
"Cut CAC 30–40%" instead of exact spend. Directionally honest, still checkable.
Redact the specifics.
Show the real dashboard with sensitive figures blurred — the shape of the result is enough to verify the pattern.
Verify privately.
Show our review team the raw data confidentially. We confirm it, badge it publicly, and your actual numbers never leave the room.
Your reputation shouldn't depend on breaking an NDA. It depends on the work being real — and there's always a way to prove that.
How marketer profiles & ranks are verified
Verification isn't just for individual hacks — it's how a whole reputation gets built. A marketer's rank on the leaderboard and their standing in the Directory are downstream of verified work, not job titles or self-description.
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Identity. Profiles are tied to a real, authenticated person. No anonymous rank inflation.
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Verified work accrues to reputation. Every hack that earns a Verified badge adds to the author's standing. Community-Voted and Unverified contributions don't carry the same weight.
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Rank is a byproduct, not a purchase. Leaderboard position is computed from verified results and genuine community signal over time. You climb by shipping proof — see exactly how ranking works on the Leaderboard.
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Claims on a profile can be challenged. If someone lists a result that doesn't hold up, the community can flag it and it goes through the same review. Faked credibility gets corrected in the open.
The result: when a founder finds a top-ranked marketer in the Directory, they're looking at a track record that's been checked — not a headline anyone could write.
Your Name
Your role · Your company
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Verified Hacks
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Upvotes
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Rep Score
Your verified track record appears here
Illustrative template — build yours by submitting verified hacks.
How we stop gaming (and why ranking can't be bought)
A reputation system is only as good as its defenses. If rank could be faked or bought, the badge would be worthless — and so would the platform. Here's how we protect it:
Pay-To-Win Enforced
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You cannot pay to rank.
Not for any price. Premium plans get you more reach, deeper access, and better tools — never a higher position or a Verified badge. Ranking and revenue are firewalled. This is non-negotiable, and it's in our Community Guidelines.
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Vote manipulation is detected & reversed.
Vote rings, sockpuppets, and coordinated upvoting get caught and rolled back. Manufactured signal doesn't count.
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Evidence beats popularity.
A hack with a huge upvote count but weak evidence stays Community-Voted, not Verified. Loud doesn't equal proven.
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Challenges are welcome.
Anyone can flag a claim they don't buy. Good-faith scrutiny makes the system stronger — we treat it as a feature, not an attack.
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Badges can be revoked.
Verification is continuous. New contradicting evidence can downgrade or remove a badge at any time.
We refuse pay-to-win because trust is the entire product. The day rankings can be bought is the day the platform stops being worth using — so that day never comes.
Verification FAQ
Who actually checks the evidence?+
As of 2026, our review team, supported by structured evidence rules and community flags. We're deliberately doing this carefully at our current scale rather than rubber-stamping submissions with automation we haven't earned trust to run. As the platform grows, we'll scale review while keeping the same bar — we won't lower it to move faster.
How long does verification take?+
A hack goes live for community signal quickly. Evidence review timing depends on how checkable your evidence is — clean dashboard exports move fast; ambiguous claims take longer because we'll come back to you with questions rather than guess.
Does getting more upvotes make me "Verified"?+
No. Votes and verification are separate. Upvotes surface useful signal and affect Community-Voted status and some ranking. Only checked evidence earns the Verified badge. We designed it this way so popularity can't buy proof.
What if I disagree with a verification decision?+
You can appeal. Reply to the review notes with additional evidence and we'll reconsider. Verification is meant to be right, not final-and-fast.
Can competitors flag my hack out of spite?+
Anyone can flag, but a flag isn't a verdict — it triggers a look, not a punishment. Bad-faith or coordinated flagging is itself a Community Guidelines violation and gets acted on. Honest claims survive scrutiny; that's the point.
Is my private data safe if I verify confidentially?+
Yes. Private verification means you show us data under confidentiality; we confirm and badge it publicly without exposing your raw numbers. See our Privacy policy for how we handle it.
Do older hacks stay verified forever?+
Not automatically. A verified result reflects what was true and proven. If new evidence contradicts it, or a tactic's claim is challenged and doesn't hold up, the badge can be downgraded. Continuous trust, not tenure.
I'm a founder — why should I trust any of this?+
Because you can inspect it. Every Verified hack shows its result and links to a named operator who stands behind it publicly. You're not trusting a headline or our word — you're looking at checked evidence attributed to a real person. Start with the Feed and judge for yourself.
See it in action.
Don't take our word for it — that would defeat the entire point of this page. Go look at the receipts.
Exploring for your team? See the Playbook Vault →
Receipts over rhetoric · No pay-to-win · Built in the open